Method and apparatus for manufacture of rayon



1937- F. w. MATTINSON I 2,068,033

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR MANUFACTURE OF RAYON Filed June 25, 1935 NIH" null! ll lNVENT OR W, K vm-u ia ATTORNEYS Patented Jan. 19, 1937 UNITED STATES METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR MANUFACTURE OF .rtAYON Frank Wilfred Mattinson, Utica, N. Y., assignor to Skenandoa Rayon Corporation, Utica, N. Y. a corporation of Delaware Application June 25, 1935, Serial No. 28,231

6 Claims.

This invention relates to the manufacture of rayon, or artificial silk, and more particularly to a new and improved method and apparatus for manufacturing rayon yarn by what is commonly known as the pot spinning or centrifugal bucket spinning method, widely used in this country.

The present invention is in the nature of an improvement upon the invention of George Willard Bryant, disclosed and claimed in his copending application Serial No. 13,200 (series of 1935), filed March 27, 1935, for Process and apparatus for the manufacture of rayon, and includes both an improvement in the method of treating rayon in cake form, after the rayon yarn cakes have been washed or otherwise purified, to improve the dyeing and other qualities of the yarn, and particularly the dyeing properties of rayon fabric made therefrom, as described and claimed in the said Bryant application, and an improvement in the apparatus described and claimed therein.

An object of the invention is to provide an improved method and apparatus for manufacturing rayon yarn which, when fabricated, results in a rayon fabric having improved uniformity of dyeing properties.

Other objects of the invention are to provide an improved method and apparatus for manufacturing rayon yarn having high uniformity of elasticity, crinkle, denier, strength and dyeing properties, the latter especially after fabrication of the yarn, and which improved method and apparatus are useful in the manufacture of rayon yarn cakes in which, when dried, the yarn throughout each cake has a substantially uniform superficial elasticity or crinkle, and in which the yarn is free to contract in a substantially uniform manner and to a substantially uniform degree throughout all parts of each cake, during the drying operation.

A further object of the invention is to provide an improved and simplified semi-automatic method and apparatus for manufacture of the yarn, whereby handling of the yarn cakes by the operator is diminished or eliminated and distortion of the cakes is prevented.

Other objects of the invention will appear from the following description, and from the drawing and claims.

According to the aforesaid application of George Willard Bryant, I understand the following to be an example of the manner in which his invention be carried out:

A rayon yarn cake is spun and is then washed and otherwise purified and treated or processed in the manner described and claimed, for exam ple, in Patent No. 1,973,953. It has also been found that during this and the treatment subsequently to be described, it is desirable and helpful to have the yarn cake enclosed in an elastic fabric stocking or sleeve, in the manner described and claimed in United States Letters Patent No. 2,002,481, to Beirne Gordon, Jr., and Harold J. V. Michel. After the yarn cake has been subjected to the desired purification and processing treatments, it is inserted in the larger end'of a reducing member having the form of a reducing die or reducing tube. This member (or its internal bore formed by the ribs, to be presently described), is tapered in such a manner as to reduce the diameter of a yarn cake forced therethrough, as hereafter described. The tube is, preferably, supported in a vertical position, and open at both ends. It is provided, on its interior surface, with a series of inwardly projecting ribs or fiutings. These ribs are arranged to radially indent or corrugate a yarn cake when forced through the tube, and more particularly the outer surface of the cake, without buckling the cake or distorting it from its original substantially annular form. The yarn cake is then (as by means of a suitable plunger) forced through the tapered, fluted reducing tube, with the result that the cake is simultaneously reduced in diameter, and crimped or corrugated from'its outer surface inwardly. The arrangement and proportions of the tube, its length, and the size, shape and taper of the internal ribs, are all co-ordinated in such manner that corrugations or flutings are introduced into the yarn cake from the outside inwardly. When the operation is completed, it is preferable that the corrugations should be deepest in the outer layers of the yarn, and decrease in size and depth as they approach the inner wall of the yarn cake. The reduced-diameter, corrugated yarn cake, after being forced along the reducing tube, may be discharged from the smaller end of the tube, and is still annular in form, but is provided with corrugations, particularly in its outer surface. It is then transferred to and placed in a centrifugal bucket or whizzer, of such diameter as just to receive the reduced-diameter cake. In the whizzing apparatus the cake is subjected to the action of centrifugal force, during which operation it is not only maintained in substantially its original annular form, but even the yarn in the corrugations is thrown outwardly against the inner wall of the whizzing pot, by the centrifugal force. Some degree of hydroextraction is also accomplished,

whereby a part of the liquid is extracted from the cake by the centrifugal force, and the subsequent drying operation is facilitated. The cake still retains, however, a considerable quantity of liquid, usually water, which must be removed by drying, commonly performed in a suitable oven. Before the cake is dried, the centrifugal action of the whizzer (centrifugal bucket) has almost completely eliminated the corrugations produced in the outer wall of the cake by the ribs of the reducing tube, changing the corrugations into sharp crimps or reverse bends. Throughout the process the cake is maintained undistorted and substantially annular in form. But because the diameter has been substantially reduced throughout the cake, the yarn in all parts of the cake is free to contract in a substantially uniform manner, and this is facilitated by the crimps remaining in the outer part of the cake after whizzing. The yarn cake is maintained in its annular shape and form before and during drying. Thus when shrinkage subsequently occurs in the drying operation, there are no hard spots or other non-uniform sections in the yarn. The result is a rayon yarn having high uniformity of superficial elasticity, wave and crinkle, as well as other desirable physical properties, and which, upon fabrication, produces a rayon fabric which may be dyed with improved uniformity and evenness, is substantially free from variations in color or shade, and is not subject to dyeing streaks or abrupt changes in appearance.

According to my invention, I provide special means for receiving and supporting the com pressed yarn cake when it is ejected from the bottom of the die-like reducing member, and for transferring it to, inserting it in, and removing it from the centrifuging apparatus, all while supporting and maintaining the compressed cake in its desired substantially annular form, protecting it against accidental distortion or deformation, and eliminating all necessity for touching or handling of the yarn cake by the operator. The efficiency and speed of operation of the process and apparatus are thus considerably increased, and the process and apparatus rendered semi-automatic, while the product is improved in quality and uniformity. If the compressed yarn cakes are handled by the operator, and transferred by hand from the outlet of the reducing tube to the centrifuging apparatus, even with the help of a celluloid collar such as has heretofore been suggested for the purpose of inserting them into the centrifuge pot, I have found that large indentations or folds may accidentally be made in the cakes, or one whole side of the cake may even collapse in handling, due to the fact that the cakes are generally soft and flabby when they emerge from the reducing tube. If a cake, thus deformed or distorted from its intended and desired form (annular, with substantially uni form radial indentations) is subjected to the centrifuging operation, it does not become uniformly crinkled, and the resulting yarn does not have the desired uniformity of crinkle and dyeing properties.

The foregoing and other difficulties are overcome, according to a preferred embodiment of my invention, by providing, in conjunction with the reducing tube apparatus, a number of yarn cake receiving and supporting receptacles, in the general shape of small pots or buckets, each adapted to be placed open-end upwards under the reducing die, and to receive a compressed yarn cake as it is ejected from the lower end of the die. Each cake receptacle consists, preferably, of a circular base member and a substantially cylindrical upstanding wall portion surrounding the base, and provided with a plurality of spaced slots or slits in the wall, to permit a limited flexing of the wall. Suitable materials for the construction of the cake receptacles are, I have found, aluminum or celluloid. When a yarn cake is ejected from the die it falls into the cake receptacle placed beneath, and slightly expands into contact with the walls thereof. The

,cake is securely supported and maintained in its desired shape by the receptacle, which has sufficient flexibility to give a yielding or resilient engagement with the outer wall of the cake. The operator then takes hold of the cake receptacle, without touching the contained cake at all, turns it upside down (there being preferably sufiicient resilience in the slotted walls to hold the cake in place) and inserts the container, cake and all, in the centrifugal bucket. The outside dimensions of the cake container are preferably such that it just fits nicely into the centrifugal bucket, open-end downward. For this purpose the centrifugal bucket may be substantially straight sided, or only very slightly tapered. The closed, or substantially closed, bottom of the cake receptacle (it may have a small fingerhole in the center of the bottom, to facilitate insertion in and removal from the centrifuge pot), serves as a cover for the whizzing pot during the centrifuging operation, the cake receptacle being placed bottom-up in the whizzing pot. After the cake has been suitably whizzed the cake receptacle is removed from the whizzing bucket, the cake is removed from its container, and it is then ready for drying in the usual manner.

A further advantage in the use of my form of cake receptacle, over the strip or collar of celluloid as heretofore employed, is that my receptacle serves accurately to maintain the height of the cakes during centrifuging. Without the use of my cake receptacle, the cakes are subject to elongation during whizzing. Other advantages of the use of my cake receptacles are that they give much better and more uniform results than were previously attainable, increase the speed and output of the apparatus, and greatly facilitate the introduction of the cakes into the centrifugal whizzing bucket and their subsequent re moval therefrom.

'I shall now describe, by way of illustration, what is at present the preferred form of my invention, being the best form of the method and apparatus now known to me, in greater detail in connection with the accompanying drawing, in which:

Figure l is a perspective view of a preferred form of yarn cake receiving container or receptable;

Figure 2 is an elevation, partly in section, of a preferred form of the reducing tube apparatus and cake receptable, showing a cake receptacle in position to receive a compressed yarn cake when ejected from the reducing tube; and

Figure 3 is a view, partly in section of the centrifugal pot or"whizzer with a yarn cake and its container (now inverted) in position therein.

Referring now more particularly to Figure 1, the cake receptacle it] consists of a base member H (which may be provided with a central aperture Ila) and an upstanding wall portion l2, divided by a series of equally-spaced slots it, which permit a certain amount of flexing of the intermediate wall portions. In the form illustrated, the cake receptacle is made of medium gauge aluminum, and may be suitably drawn,

haust port 4|.

spun, stamped or pressed to the desired shape, after which the slots may be cut, or suitable slots may be out before the stamping operation, if the container is made in that way.

In Figure 2, the cake reducing tube or die-like member, I4, is shown arranged in vertical position, and provided with top and bottom openings, I5 and I6, respectively. The die member I4 is, of course, hollow or tubular in form, and is provided with ribs upon its inner face and projecting radially inward from the face of the tube. The whole die member may conveniently be formed of a casting of brass, bronze or steel, polished on its inner face, and chromium plated to give a smooth finish and hard wearing surface. The member I4 is supported on a frame or base l8.

Inside the reducing tube I4 is a plunger I9 arranged in the form of a spider, with radially extending fingers 28. This plunger may suitably be operated by means of an air ram, as follows:

Above the cake reducing tube l4, and attached thereto by suitable means, is a bracket 2| provided with an air passage 22. Into the top of the bracket 2|, there is screw-threaded a vertical cylinder 23, and over the top of this cylinder 23 there is screw-threaded a 'cap 24, provided with an air passage 25. At the top and bottom of the cylinder, 23, there are provided suitable gaskets 26. A piston 21 isdisposed in the cylinder 23 and is attached to the top of a vertical piston rod 28, and held there securely by means of a nut 29. To the lower end of the piston rod 28, there is attached the plunger l9.

On the under side of the bracket 2|, a packing gland 30, with a suitable packing 3|, is arranged for the vertically reciprocating rod 28. On the inward sides of the bracket 2 I, there are provided a pair of bosses 32 having slots or grooves 33 to set as guides for the plunger l9; these slots or grooves are preferably extensions of certain of the grooves provided'by the ribbed interior of the tube l4.

A pipe line 34 connects with the air passages 22 and 25, and is provided with the upper and lower'valves 35 and 36; preferably two of such valves, suitably needle valves, are included, one for each of the air passages, as shown. Intermediate the valves 35 and 36, the pipe line 34 con-' tains a four way valve 31, which has a port 38 connected to the'branch of the pipe line 34 leading to the air passage 22, another port 39 connected to the branch of the pipe line 34 leading to the air passage 25, another port connected with a compressed air supply pipe line 40, and an ex- This four way 'valve is of the usual construction, operated by a lever 42, and arranged so that, in its first position, port 39, is connected with the supply line 48 and port 38 with the exhaust port 4|, and in its second position port 39 is connected with the exhaust port 4| and port 38 with the supply line 49.

The operation of the apparatus is as follows: The plunger I9 (and the'connecting or piston rod '38) being in itsupper position, as shown, a yarn cake 5'! is inserted through either of the open sides of the bracket 2|, below the plunger, and is droppedinto the open mouth l5 of the reducing tube I4. With the valves 35 and 36 suitably opened and four way valve 31 in its first position, compressed air is transmitted from the supply line 49, through the fourway valve port 39, the upper branch of line 34 and its valve 35, and the passage 25, into the top of the cylinder 23, and forces down the piston 21, its connecting rod 28 and the plunger 9, This downward mov ment' of the plunger forces the yarn cake downward through the reducing tube l4. During its downward stroke, the plunger I9 is guided by'the slots or grooves 33, and the dead air in the cylinder 23 below the piston 21 is forced outby the latter and exhausted through the air passage 22, the lower branch of line 34 and its needle valve 36, port 38 of the four way valve, and the exhaust port 4| to the atmosphere.

As will now be understood, the lever 42 can then be shifted to its second position, whereupon compressed air is admitted through port 38 and the passage 22 into the lower end of the cylinder 23, and the piston 27 is thereby forced up to its original position, together with its connecting rod 28 and the plunger I9. On this upwardstroke tion, as explained above. As will also be understood, the speed of operation of the plunger can be suitably controlled by the needle valves, 35 and 36, which are adjusted to regulate the amount of air admitted to and exhausted from the cylinder 23. 3 Y

Below the reducing tube 4 there is arranged a slide 43, supported on suitable brackets, and

arranged to move in-and out at right angles to the plane of the drawing. A suitable positioning means 45 is arranged upon the slide .43, as in the form of the small button as shown, adapted to fit into the small circular central hole I la (see Fig. 1) in the base ll of each successive cake'ree ceptacle I8. At its inner position, the slide 43 abuts against a suitable stop (not shown), so that the position of the button 45 is exactly under the center of the reducing tube |4.

Before each cycle of operation, the operator pulls out the slide 43, places thereon, base downward as shown, a cake receiving receptacle I8, pushes the slide home, and then operates the plunger as previously described. As the compressed yarn cake 5! is ejected from'the bottom of the reducing tube, it falls into the receptacle 18. When the cake drops out of the bottom of the reducing tube l4 it'is sufiicientlycompressed so that it can fall into the waiting receptacle l8, after which the cake slowly expands very slightly, until it is firmly engaged and retained by the resilient arms l2. The operator then pulls out the slide 43, removes the charged receptacle and places it, in inverted position, in the whizzing pot shown in Figure 3.

The centrifugal apparatus or whizzer may be constructed as follows: An electric motor 46 is encased in a suitable protective hood 4'! as illustrated. The motor is provided with a vertical shaft 48, having at its upper end a vertical spindle 49, upon which there is fitted an adaptor member 50, fitting into a suitable bushing 5|. The latter is integral with the base 52 of the centrifugal whizzing pot or whizzer 53. The construction of the adaptor 59, and its cooperating bushing 5|, may suitably be that described and claimed in United States Letters Patent No. 1,948,834 to Walter C. Volk, patented February 27, 1934. Since the cake receptacle I8 is inverted, when in the whizzing pot, its base serves as a cover for the pot and cake during the whizzing operation. Due to the fact' that liquid is thrown off from the cake during the whizzing operation, the whole apparatus is preferably encased in a box or other suitable enclosure 54, provided with a hinged lid 55 and a drain channel 56, through which liquid extracted from the cake may run off and be dis charged.

The centrifuge pot 53 is circular in plan and in horizontal cross-section, and its interior diameter is preferably such that when the yarn cake, after emerging from the reducing die, and contained in the receptacle I0, is placed in the centrifuge pot, the outside of the receptacle ID makes close contact with the inner face of the whizzing pot. When it emerges from the reducing die, the cake is substantially parallel-sided, and the centrifuge pot may, also, have parallel walls. However, a slight taper facilitates introduction and removal of the cake. The action of the centrifugal force is such that during the whizzing operation the yarn in the outer portions of the cake, even in the radial indentations, is forced as much as possible into contact with the inner wall of the cake receptacle H) which, in turn, is supported by the whizzing pot. Thus the yarn in the indentations is thrown outwardly against the walls of the container, but since the periphery of the yarn cake, measured along its outer contour and including the radial indentations, is substantially greater than the inner periphery of the container (the yarn cake having been substantially reduced in diameter by its passage through the die-member) the net result of the centrifuging operation is to produce a yarn cake, still annular in form but in which, due to the fact that the individual threads or yarn fibres are longer than the circumference of the cake in which they lie, the threads have, throughout the cake, the desired crinkle or wavy structure, heretofore described. This crinkle or wave in the threads permits the yarn to contract with substantial uniformity when dried, in cake form, after the centrifuging is completed and the excess crinkle, not taken up by contraction, is set in the yarn, as heretofore described. The resulting yarn has been found to have high uniformity of dyeing quality, particularly when fabric made therefrom is dyed subsequent to fabrication.

The process and apparatus herein specifically illustrated and described are the best embodiments of my invention now known to me, but it is to be understood that the invention is not necessarily or specifically limited thereto, but may be carried out in other ways without departing from its spirit, and within the scope of the following claims.

I claim:

1. The combination with an apparatus for use in the manufacture of rayon said apparatus comprising a tubular die-like receptacle open at both ends, and having upon its interior surface a plurality of inwardly projecting tapered ribs, the mouth of said receptacle being located at the larger end thereof, and being of such size and shape as to receive a rayon yarn cake, and the taper, configuration and arrangement of said ribs being such as to compress said cake radially, when the same is forced along the bore of said receptacle, and means for forcing a rayon yarn cake along and through said die-like receptacle, to subject the cake to, radial compression, and then ejecting the cake from the smaller end of the receptacle, after the desired compression of the yarn cake, of a cake-receiving and supporting receptacle arranged at the outlet end of and 00* operating with said die-like receptacle to receive the compressed cake upon ejection from said dielike receptacle, and tocontain and support the compressed cake, without deformation thereof, during transfer to, insertion in, and subsequent removal from, a centrifugal hydro-extraction machine, the interior dimensions of said receptacle being so proportioned that it is adapted to receive and retain the compressed yarn cake when ejected into the same,and the exterior dimensions of the receptacle being so proportioned that it is adapted for bodily insertion, with its contained cake, and in an inverted position, into the aforesaid cooperating centrifugal machine.

2. The combination with an apparatus for use in the manufacture of rayon said apparatus comprising a tubular die-like receptacle supported in a vertical position and open at both ends, and having upon its interior surface aplurality of inwardly projecting tapered ribs, the mouth of said receptacle being located at the upper end thereof, and being of such size and shape as to receive a rayon yarn cake, and the taper, configuration and arrangement of said ribs being such as to compress said cake radially, when the same is forced along the bore of said receptatcle, and means for forcing a rayon yarn cake downwardly along and through said die-like receptacle, to subject the cake to radial compression, and then ejecting the cake from the smaller end'of the receptacle at the bottom thereof, after the desired compression of the yarn cake, of a cake-receiving and supporting receptacle arranged beneath and cooperating with said die-like receptacle to receive the compressed cake upon ejection from the bottom of said die-like receptacle, and to contain and support the compressed cake, without deformation thereof, during transfer to, insertion in, and subsequent removal from, a "centrifugal hydro-extraction machine.

3. The combination with an apparatus for use in the manufacture of rayon said apparatus comprising a tubular die-like receptacle supported in a vertical position and open at both ends, and having upon its interior surface a plurality of inwardly projecting tapered ribs, the mouth of said receptacle being located at the upper end thereof, and being of such size and shape as to receive a rayon yarn cake, and the taper, configuration and arrangement of said ribs being such as to compress said cake radially, when the same is forced along the bore of said receptacle, and means for forcing a rayon yarn cake downwardly along and through said die-like receptacle, to subject the cake to radial compression, and then ejecting the cake from the smaller end of the receptacle at thebottom thereof, after the desired compression of the yarn cake, of a slide arranged beneath said die-like receptacle; a plurality of yarn cake receiving and supporting receptacles adapted to receive compressed yarn cakes as the same are ejected from said die-like member; and positioning means cooperating with said slide for positioning said cake-receiving receptacles, so that when a receptacle is placed upon said slide and the latter is moved into position under said die-like member, a compressed yarn cake may be ejected from the lower end of said die-like member directly into said cakereceivin-g receptacle, without any handling of the cake, and with no distortion or deformation thereof from its desired, radially indented annular form.

4. A yarn cake receiving and supporting receptacle or bucket comprising a circular base and a substantially cylindrical upstanding wall portion surrounding the same, and provided with a plurality of spaced slots in said wall, arranged to permit a limited flexing thereof; said receptacle being made of a material of limited flexibility, and having inside dimensions which permit it to receive and support a compressed yarn cake and outside dimensions which permit the receptacle, when inverted, with its contained yarn cake, to bebodily inserted in a centrifugal hydro-extraction pot.

5. A process of manufacturing rayon comprising first spinning an annular rayon yarn cake by the centrifugal spinning system; then treating the spun cake to free the yarn from impurities, while maintaining the annular form of the yarn cake; then radially indenting the cake at a plurality of spaced points about its periphery while still maintaining the annular form of the cake but subjecting it to simultaneous radial and axial compression; transferring the indented cake to a receiving and supporting receptacle adapted for supporting and maintaining the cake in its desired radially-indented annular form, and protecting it against accidental distortion or deformation; then inverting and transferring said receptacle, with its contained cake, to a centrifuging apparatus; centrifuging the cake while thus supported and protected, to convert the radial indentations into crinkles in the yarn; and drying the yarn in cake form.

6. The combination with an apparatus for use in the manufacture of rayon, said apparatus comprising a tubular, die-like, yarn-cake reducing member, and means for forcing a rayon yarn cake along said member, to reduce the diameter of the cake, of a centrifugal machine for treatment of the reduced-diameter cake, of and a cooperating yarn cake receiving receptacle adapted for the transfer of yarn cakes from said reducing member to said centrifugal machine; the proportions and dimensions of all parts of said apparatus being so coordinated and adjusted that a reduced-diameter yarn cake may be ejected from said reducing member directly into said receptacle and received and retained in the latter, and said receptacle, with its contained reduced-diameter cake, may be transferred to and bodily inserted in said centrifugal machine and remain therein during the centrifugal treatment of the cake, and may then be withdrawn from the centrifugal machine with the centrifuged yarn cake still retained in said receptacle.

FRANK WILFRED MATTINSON.

CERTIFICATE or CORRECTION.

Patent No. 2,068,035. January 19, 1957.

FRANK WILFRED MATTINSON.

It is hereby certified that error appears in the printed specification of the above numbered patent requiring correction as follows: Page 5, second column, line 11, claim 6, strike out the word "of" second occurrence; and that the said Letters Patent should be read with this correction therein that the same may conform to the record of the case in the Patent Office.

Signed and sealed this 9th day of March, A. D 1957.

Henry Van Arsdale (Seal) Acting Commissioner of Patents. 

